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California Institute of the Arts

MFA: Experimental Animation

School of Film/Video

Illustration of vintage TV sets in motion on a black background

Angela Stemple, still from Creation Myth

Animation (re)defined

Faculty, students, and alumni of CalArts’ three-year MFA program in Experimental Animation consistently win top awards at festivals worldwide, and are widely credited with helping to define the art of animation as we know it today. As a student, you’ll join a community of artists who are building on this legacy and continuing to expand the definition of animation. Our renowned faculty provide cutting-edge technical instruction in a range of innovative animation styles, fortified by a discursive environment of peers and faculty mentors who will form the foundation of your lifelong creative network.

A hand facing upwards holding a green, gooey substance in its palm

Amia Yokoyam, still from Ossein

  • #1 animation school in the US

    Animation Career Review 2024

  • Top 5 Film School Titans

    Variety 2024 rankings

  • 8:1 student-faculty ratio

    in CalArts School of Film/Video

Expand your vision through your practice

MFA Experimental Animation

The Experimental Animation MFA program at CalArts offers a framework in which students explore, develop, and refine intellectually demanding, aesthetically progressive concepts and professional practices in their personal cinematic art-making.

Let’s connect

In the three-year Experimental Animation MFA program, you’ll gain a comprehensive foundational background through the mentorship and expertise of faculty who encourage you to seek out poetic, lyrical, structural, and other modes of experimentation with the materials and forms of the moving image. CalArts students learn not only to become makers, but to be critically minded contributors to the advancement of animation history and theory.

In addition to coursework in technique and theory, the curriculum includes training in professionalization. You’ll be expected to become familiar with film festivals and submission processes, attend professional gatherings and events, and participate in related professional organizations. Accordingly, our graduates become creative leaders in the field, establishing careers in studio production, teaching, and personal practice, and often forming creative partnerships with fellow CalArts students—your network for life.

All MFA candidates in Experimental Animation must complete a first-year project, develop a thesis proposal in the second year, and pass a thesis review in the third year, ensuring that you leave the program as a skilled and confident animation artist, ready to make your mark in the industry.

Admission requirements

To be considered for the BFA Experimental Animation program, you must complete an application and all program-specific requirements, including an artist statement, portfolio, video introduction, additional written materials, letters of recommendation, and an interview. Before applying, please familiarize yourself with the detailed application requirements and resources available to assist you in this important process. 

View detailed admission requirements

Minors and interdisciplinary opportunities

CalArts offers students the chance to pursue additional interests alongside your chosen discipline, such as a minor in Digital Arts or Arts Education.

Learn more about MFA concentrations

Courses you might take

What courses would you take as an Experimental Animation MFA student? Browse the courses offered in the School of Film/Video, one of the world’s foremost places for the study and practice of the art of the moving image as a personal, evolving, and innovative artform.

Explore our course catalog

Meet the faculty

At CalArts, faculty and students are collaborators, teaching, learning, and working together as members of our community of artists. 

What will you make?

Get inspired

Each year, students screen their work in the Experimental Animation Showcase, which took place in 2024 at REDCAT, CalArts’ downtown LA center for visual and performing arts.

Stop-motion animation of an ant eater sitting at a diner

Still from Phoebe Jane Hart’s (MFA 23) “Bug Diner,” winner of the Best Animated Short prize at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Some of our alumni

More School of Film/Video alumni

Meet the animators

Each year, the School of Film/Video produces a directory featuring portfolios and contact info for current Experimental Animation students to help connect industry professionals with CalArts talent. Check out the 2024 cohort’s portfolios, and follow your favorites.

Illustration of a crouching red tiger with yellow eyes and a smile.

Jared Hall (MFA 2), Tiger.

Annapurna Kumar (MFA 17), Paint Bucket promo video

Students and studios meet at Animation Portfolio Day

One day. Fifty studios and companies from across the US and beyond. And 780 face-to-face meetings with students. That’s CalArts’ annual Animation Portfolio Day.

People talk and check their devices during a networking event.

And the Oscar goes to …

MFA Experimental Animation alum Sujin Kim won her category’s gold medal in the 48th Student Academy Awards for Animation for her CG short Unforgotten. Kim’s film weaves together the testimonies of four South Korean women who were forced to become “comfort women” during World War II. The medalists were selected from a pool of 1,404 submissions, across 210 domestic and 126 international colleges and universities.

Abstract figures kneel in a field against a pale pink sky

Sujin Kim (MFA 20), still from Unforgotten

Gallery

Want to learn more?

We got you. Our Admissions team is all about providing the information you need to decide if CalArts is right for you. We’re excited to connect with you for a tour of our legendary campus, a virtual info session, or at one of our admissions events across the country or around the world. Take the next step—we’re here to help.